IVAM – Mean Streets & My Mother’s Suitcase

The weather hasn’t been the greatest in the Valencian Community recently, so we spent one rainy afternoon at the IVAM — Valencia’s modern art museum — where there’s almost always a new exhibit worth seeing.

Mean Streets (Malas Calles) is a confusing mish-mash; an interdisciplinary examination of how “the streets” have affected and shaped modern culture. That’s what it’s supposed to be about, at any rate. Really, the exhibition is better described as a completely random collection of good music, great films, interesting photography, weird art, and extremely boring video projections. Much of it has a very tenuous connection to “the streets” (Fritz Lang’s Metropolis? Happens underground! In an imaginary future!), but once I stopped trying to “figure out” the reasoning behind the selections, I enjoyed myself.

My Mother’s Suitcase is a sculpture collection by Natividad Navalón, which we liked quite a bit. Using materials like iron, towels, water and light, the artist examines the relationship between a mother and her daughter, in 5 rooms. This is the kind of modern art I can get behind. Moving and accessible without pretension.

My Mother’s suitcase only runs through February 21st, so hurry down. Mean Streets is on until May 9th.

About Us

We're Jürgen and Mike, from Germany and the USA. We've been living in Valencia on-and-off since 2008. Much of our time is spent traveling the world with For 91 Days... but Valencia is the city we call home, and to which we'll always return.